The Salton Sea Database Program (SSDP) at the University of Redlands, Redlands Institute (RI) was a congressionally funded project administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Center for Special Programs. The purpose of the SSDP was to establish a decision support “infrastructure” of data management and analysis tools and a team of professionals to support multi-disciplinary and coordinated decision-making across all the professional and scientific teams and stakeholders involved in the restoration of California's largest inland body of water, the Salton Sea.

A structured process was applied to develop the initial SSDP Strategic Plan. Interviews were held with the primary project participants to gain a better understanding of their requirements and timeframes. This information was then synthesized to develop a series of “mission critical” activities and a plan for their execution. The nine mission critical components that were initially identified to drive the initial conception of SSDP development was as follows:

SSDP Information and Technology Infrastructure Strengthening

The SSDP had created an initial structure for capturing, cataloging and disseminating information to the project participants.

Data Publishing and Information Dissemination

This component involved the development of mechanisms to better support data publishing and dissemination, including the design and development of Atlas information in both digital and hardcopy form. Ultimately, three forms of the Salton Sea Environmental Atlas were developed, including an award winning hardcopy Atlas, a project website, and a web-based system for handling requests for information (RFIs) from the stakeholder community.

Baseline Reconnaissance Study Support

Several baseline reconnaissance studies were commissioned to help fill data gaps associated with the ecological assessment activities of the Science Subcommittee (SSC). This work program focused on supporting these studies through the provision of collateral information, establishment of GIS-related standards and guidelines, and provision of a data management framework for managing and sharing of baseline information among the project’s science team.

Ecological Assessment Support

The SSC was responsible for ecological assessments, synthesis of existing ecological information, identification of data gaps, development of work programs for filling data gaps, and other related activities. The SSDP supported a variety of special projects on behalf of the SSC, the Lead Agencies, and other stakeholders to better understand the ecology of the Sea and the areas of potential impact from restoration alternatives.

Restoration Engineering Alternative Support

The Bureau of Reclamation synthesized a broad range of over 50 restoration engineering project alternatives down to a discrete number of a half-dozen or so potentially feasible scenarios. The formulation and evaluation of selected alternatives by the Lead Agencies and other members of the stakeholder community was supported with SSDP data and spatial analysis applications.

EIS/EIR Support

An EIS/EIR was prepared to assess the potential environmental implications of the various restoration alternatives. This process involved the compilation and synthesis of a wide variety of existing resource assessment information that was further informed by the SSC and baseline reconnaissance studies.

Database Compilation, Integration and Automation

There was a significant number and variety of existing GIS datasets available to support SSDP project activities, but there were also significant data gaps in the compiled sources. A data compilation, integration and capture function was carried out to focus on creating new, compiled data layers from existing disparate source information.

SSDP Outreach

The SSDP represented a significant informational resource that was able to benefit a wide range of issues associated with the Salton Sea, the restoration project, and the hundreds of stakeholder types and uses that will ultimately benefit from this process. Many of the other program components of the project such as the digital and hardcopy Atlases, the Request for Information System (RFI), the SSDP website, were all instrumental in fulfilling this objective, including the use of many of these materials in the development of a K-12 Science curricula that was designed and implemented by the University of Redlands, School of Education.